FARMING AS A BUSINESS – PEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN CROPS

By PENJANINZIMA

SMALLHOLDER farmers have been encouraged from time and again to change their perspective on how they view farming from a social aspect to that of a Business minded approach.

This path has not easily been embraced by the majority of the smallholder farmers who to a larger extent take farming as a social activity due to the fact that it has been passed down to them from their fore fathers as a way of raising household food security.

But times are changing just like seasons are never the same, smallholder farmers must rise to the occasion and take farming as a business so that their livelihood can improve tremendously and they can also become self-reliant in their agriculture business.

And this does not only involve a total mindset change but also require that smallholder farmers acquire some skills in line with new innovations in the agriculture sector. This may involve knowledge in things like the best fertilizers on the market as well as best pesticides to combat various pests.

The most common pests that have wreaked havoc to the farmers crops in recent times has been the Tuta absoluta in tomatoes and the Fall Army worms in grains maize inclusive involving farmers of different sizes.  

If the smallholder farmers neglect to have better knowledge on these pests, then the whole purpose of perusing farming as a business is defeated completely.    

This is the reason OMNIA Fertilizer Agronomist Royd Bwembya emphasizes on the importance of tomato farmers to be doing on the spot check in their tomato fields so that any sudden pest invasion in their tomato field can be detected easily and a solution implored.

Mr. Bwembya disclosed that a farmer is suppose to conduct regular monitoring of his/her field to ensure that an early detection of whatever disease or pest infestation present.

He indicates that if there is any pest infestation in the tomato field the farmer can easily inform the agronomist who can go to the farm and do an on-the-spot check then solution(s) can be provided by telling the farmer to purchase the correct pesticide in line with the infestation or disease at hand.

“It is therefor important for farmers to use a dripper than a sprinkler on their tomatoes and to avoid moisture on the leaves because it is susceptible to fungal diseases especially in the rainy season.” he explained.

Then the other notorious pest that has invaded the crop fields of farmers year in year out is the Fall Army Worm (FAW) causing serious damage to the maize fields.  

And this ravaging of grain is mainly done on the maize crop thereby threatening household food and nutritional security for most smallholder farmers in Africa and Zambia inclusive.

The smallholder farmers are hard hit in this country by this pest because few agro-ecological Pest Management Innovations exist against the pest.

These are Fall Armyworms (FAW) whose presence has over the past years been reported across the country.

But the smallholder farmers have not been left in the cold against this ferocious pest and the Ministry of Agriculture in collaboration with The International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) implemented a project called Agro-ecological Management of the FAW in Eastern and Southern Africa whose focus is to control the pest using Agro-ecological Management practices.

“Government has been investing in efforts to find sustainable solutions to the problem in order to reduce the money that is spent to control the pest on an annual basis,” he said.  

Mr. Mbozi further added that government was confident that the project would significantly contribute to the strides being made to promote inter-country research and development thereby strengthening the resilience of smallholder farmers to the FAW.

“In responding to this challenge, Ministry of Agriculture through ZARI has developed three tolerant maize varieties that will soon be made available to the smallholder farmers,” he disclosed.

According to New Mexico State University Pest management is a system of integrated preventive and corrective measures to reduce or prevent pests from causing significant harm to humans or the environment (Bennett et al., 2005).

The goal of pest management is to achieve desired outcomes at the lowest possible cost and with the least risk to humans and the environment. Pest management boils down to affecting those elements of the environment that contribute to an invasive species’ ability to reproduce, survive, and thrive.

Pests are undesirable organisms, such as insects, bacteria, fungi, nematodes, weeds, viruses, or vertebrate animals, that harm humans or human interests.

Integrated pest management (IPM) is a process that seeks a balanced application of pest control methods for improved pest management success in an environmentally safe and sustainable manner.

Integrated pest management emphasizes a balanced combination of pest management practices that target pests and their environment while minimizing the damage, risks, and costs associated with implementing management practices. Pests are controlled most successfully in the long term when managed using an IPM approach.

‍